


At The Daily Planet

by RunWithWolves



Series: 30 Days of Cupcake [28]
Category: Carmilla (Web Series)
Genre: F/F, loislane!laura, superwoman!carmilla
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-19
Updated: 2016-10-19
Packaged: 2018-08-23 11:50:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,575
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8326807
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RunWithWolves/pseuds/RunWithWolves
Summary: Laura is the Daily Planet's star investigative reporter but there are still two things that she can't figure out.
1. Who is Superwoman?2. What is it about her new, incredibly annoying partner Carmilla that she can't quite figure out? Laura knows that there's something up and she'll stare at Carmilla's nerdy glasses and leather pants all day if that's what it takes to figure her partner out.





	

**Author's Note:**

> it was inevitable that we'd either get a superman/lois or batman/wonderwoman fic. My first two hardcore ships. I figured clois had broader appeal :D

Laura gnawed on the end of her pen and stared across the Daily Planet office, trying to figure out what exactly it was about Carmilla Karnstein that bothered her so much. There was the obvious. Her partner was sitting with her feet up on her desk and her laptop perched in her lap as she lazily typed at what had to a 5 words per minute pace. Carmilla apparently prefered to just follow Laura around all day and shoot sarcastic comments whenever she could instead of actually working.

Then she’d turn around and slap an essay on Laura’s desk about the crumbling state of the city to ask for edits and a shared byline. A story that literally had Laura hiding in the bathroom so she could cry a little about the emotions in it.

Before going back to her desk and fixing it up. 

She was Laura Hollis and she was still the best reporter in this office. No upstart in leather pants who came from Smallville of all places was going to beat her. 

Still, she couldn’t figure Carmilla out.

Not being able to track down Superwoman’s identity was embarrassing enough, she wasn’t about to lose her investigative journalist title because Carmilla was an enigma. 

So, Laura had been watching. 

She was still watching. There wasn’t much to see. Carmilla just typed her 5 words per minute, twisted her ponytail between her fingers, flirted with the gossip reporter, took an inordinate number of coffee breaks where she just disappeared, and pushed her glasses back up her nose exactly 3 times an hour. 

She was no farther in figuring Carmilla than when Laura had barged into Perry’s office almost a two weeks ago.

#

She barged through the door, babbling about the next steps from the article she’d just written on Silas’s new superhero. She was so busy talking, that she didn’t realized Perry wasn’t even there. 

“Look, Perr,” Laura said, “I’m the first to say that I don’t want to be rescued like some damsel in distress but even I’m not going to complain about being scooped from the top of an exploding train if it means that I got to break the story that we have our own superhero. A really hot female superhero. But, that doesn’t mean we’re not going to have to do some actual groundwork to follow this up. Laf’s got their camera. We’re ready for this.” 

She flailed the newspaper in her hands, the title SUPERWOMAN splashed across the front page above Laura’s byline. 

“I want details,” Laura continued, “I want the story. I want to know who she is and where she comes from and what her powers are and everything. Perry. This could be my Pulitzer if we just kept riding this momentum. Please. Put me on it. I have to get the expose.”

The first sound she ever heard from Carmilla was a snort, then, “You could buy a girl dinner first cupcake.”

“What?” Laura whirled around, “Um, excuse me. But who the hell are you?”

On her first day in the office, Carmilla was already wearing a smirk and leather pants. She gazed Laura up and down, “Although,” Carmilla added, “I suppose a girl as cute as you wouldn’t even need to go through dinner if you wanted something.”

Laura’s jaw dropped as heat rushed through her chest, quickly turning into anger, “Look. I don’t know who you are but that’s completely inappropriate. Perr, who is-” Her eye’s widened when she finally realized that Perry wasn’t even in the room.

“Our boss isn’t here right now,” Carmilla said.

“Our boss? Our?” Laura started.

Carmilla cut her off, crossing her arms behind her head as she stared at Laura, “In fact, she just went to go find you if I’m not mistaken.”

“Please,” Laura said, “Like I’m going to fall for that. You don’t even know who I am, you’re just some hooligan who somehow got in here. I’m calling security.” She turned to Perry’s phone.

“Laura Hollis,” Carmilla said as Laura’s hand touched the dialpad, “Born and raised here in Silas. Top of your class. Youngest employee in the history of the planet to ever be hired as an investigative journalist. Broke that story on Lilita Morgan’s underground venture, for the limited good that ended up doing. Noisy. Loud. Prone to trouble with an overwhelming sense of self-righteousness and a naive nature that makes me wonder if you’re secretly a Disney Princess or if you got dropped on your head a few too many times as a child.”

Laura turned slowly to face her and Carmilla was grinning wickedly, “How’d I do?” she asked. 

Laura’s jaw clicked into place as she fought to keep her tone in check, “That’s an awful lot of judgement to be passing on someone you just met.”

“I do my research,” Carmilla said.

“Then you’d know I’m not naive,” Laura said, “I’ve seen some of the worst this city has to offer.”

“And yet,” Carmilla waved her hand lazily through the air, “You still see someone with superpowers and decide to call them Superwoman, making the assumption right off the bat that superheroes are real and that she’s not some evil villain trying to gain your trust.”

Breathing deep, Laura took a step forward, “I have first hand experience with Superwoman, I think I know her a little better than you do.”

Carmilla sat up as Laura took another step, “Wanna bet, cupcake? I could have your little expose done in half the time it would take you and mine would tell the dirty underbelly of your so called Superwoman.”

“No-one is faster than me,” Laura said through clenched teeth.

Carmilla snorted.

Laura pressed on, “And there is no dirty underbelly. Is she perfect? Probably not. But what I do know is that she saved a whole bunch of people on that train and still came back to get me. If nothing else, that seems pretty much like a superhero.”

“Superheroes don’t exist,” Carmilla repeated. She didn’t lean away even when Laura was now firmly in her space.

“They do to me,” Laura hissed, “And she gets the title superhero until she proves it otherwise.”

There was a pause as Carmilla searched her face, eyes moving behind thick black glasses frames, “You really do believe that, don’t you?” Carmilla said, almost softly, “Maybe you really are a fool.”

Before Laura could even figure out how to respond to that, the door to Perry’s office opened again. “Ah, Laura,” Perry said, “I see you’ve met Carmilla. Good.”

So, not a hooligan then. Bummer. 

“And who,” Laura’s tone was clipped, “is Carmilla exactly?”

Carmilla’s drawl answered, “Didn’t I mention it? I’m your new partner, cutie.”

Laura’s gaze snapped to Perry who was looking oddly guilty, “Perr.” Laura said, eyes wide, “Perr. No. Not after Danny. You know I don’t have a partner.”

“I thought you’d catch onto my role faster,” Carmilla chimed in.

Laura ignored her, “You know I don’t work with partners.”

Perry sat at her desk and straightened the edges of her papers, “We’ve talked about this, Laura. You can’t keep running off on your own and going into dangerous situations by yourself. It’s not good for the paper.”

“The last one got me the exclusive with Superwoman!” Laura said, pointing to the newspaper now freshly framed and hung on Perry’s wall.

“And we appreciate that,” Perry said, “But that doesn’t mean you can do whatever you want. We do have rules and one of our guidelines is that all reporters work with a partner on their stories to check their work and provide support. Also,” she said delicately, “the HR department thinks that it might help with our insurance. You do have a knack for getting into trouble.”

Carmilla laughed, “From the firey rage she’s got going from a simple conversation, that sounds like an understatement.”

Laura didn’t turn but thrust a finger in Carmilla’s direction, “No comments from the peanut gallery.”

“But I’m your partner,” Carmilla said in a falsely high pitched voice, “Doesn’t that mean we have to work together. Hear each others opinions. All that good girl talk.” Her voice dropped to her normal husk, “I always was a fan of a good slumber party. Practice kissing. 7 minutes in heaven. All good stuff.”

“Zero minutes in heaven!” Laura shouted over her words, trying to get the image of leather pants and nerdy glasses out of her head. How dare Carmilla use hot nerd vibes against her.

She could hear Carmilla snickering while Perry looked at her with concern.

Laura took a deep breath, “Okay. Fine. Maybe I should have a partner. I don’t know want one but fine, maybe I can see why you’d want me to have one. But,” Laura added, “why in the world would you pick her, of all people?”

“She’s highly qualified, “ Perry was quick to assure her, holding out a copy of Carmilla’s credentials to Laura.

She snapped up the paper, giving Carmilla a glare over the top before looking at the words. 

Carmilla just winked at her, “Don’t worry, cupcake. Not everyone is as susceptible to my charms as you are. I didn’t charm Curly Sue over here into taking me on; I know what I’m doing.”

Biting her tongue, Laura was forced to hold back her huff of indignation at the fact that Carmilla did have significant experience. A number of articles. Quite a bit of impressive freelancing. Even an editor position at-

Laura frowned, “You expect me to work with some reporter from Smallville?” She turned to look at Carmilla, “Leather the usual attire for small mid-western towns or are you overcompensating to try and fit into the ‘Big City’?”

If Laura was hoping for a reaction, she was left disappointed.

“There’s no-one in Smallville quite like me,” Carmilla boasted, “And the leather pants are for the eyes of the ladies. Can’t be denying them the show. In fact,” She leaned forward, combat boots hitting the floor, “You’ve mentioned my pants a few times, cupcake. Their small town charm working its magic on you?”

Turning back to Perry, Laura pointedly ignored her, “You can’t possibly think we’d work as partners.”

She was appalled to find Perry smiling, “Actually, I think that Miss Karnstein might be the only person who won’t let you steamplow over her.” She looked at Carmilla, “You start immediately.”

Laura’s eyes went wide, words boiling on her tongue.

From the corner of her eye, she saw Carmilla stand and give Perry a salute. That lazy smirk still on her face, “Oh Laura,” she purred as she walked past, “we are going to have so much fun.”

#

Since then, Carmilla hadn’t become any less of an enigma or less of a pain in Laura’s life. Forcing herself to put down the pen before she chewed through the end again and Carmilla brought up the ‘Pen Ink Incident’, Laura just kept staring at her partner. 

She just couldn’t put it together. Something churning in her gut every time she stared at those black glasses and the waterfall of waves that was Carmilla’s ponytail.

Then Carmilla turned and caught her staring, winking before Laura could think to look away. 

Laura squeaked and looked back at her computer. Maybe Carmilla would just let it go.

“Enjoying the view, cutie?” Carmilla called, smoothly wheeling her chair across the aisle to bump into Laura’s desk.

Laura lifted her chin, flicking through random computer files as Carmilla plunked her elbows down on the desk, “Just lost in thought.” Laura said.

“Mmmhmmm,” she could practically hear Carmilla laughing at her. 

“No really,” Laura insisted, “I’m just trying to think up how to get this new angle on the Superwoman story. We need that follow-up.”

“And you thought you’d ask your gorgeous, experience partner for some advice?” Carmilla said.

Laura rolled her eyes and glanced over at Carmilla, “Actually, I was wondering if Superwoman would bother to come save you if I tossed you off a building.”

“Well, you’re welcome to try,” Carmilla said. 

“Appreciate it,” Laura deadpanned, “I’ll keep it in mind.”

“Always happy to help my dear darling partner,” Carmilla quipped.

“Don’t remind me,” Laura groaned. 

“Wow,” Carmilla said, leaning back, “Way to make a girl feel good about herself, cutie.” Even with the endearment tacked on the end, the sentence didn’t have its usual bite and when Laura looked up, Carmilla was pushing off to wheel back across the aisle.

If spending two weeks staring at Carmilla had done any good, it meant that Laura could see the hint of a frown on her face. 

Whatever complicated feeling normally lived in Laura’s stomach when she looked at Carmilla was quickly replaced by guilt.

Leaping forward, she snagged Carmilla’s chair before she could away and tugged Carmilla back. She ended up closer than expected, missing the desk to bump against Laura’s knees. Carmilla raised an eyebrow, “Something to add to this delightful conversation?”

Fingers tapping on her desk, Laura mumbled, “I just wanted to let you know that I really liked the story you did. The one on the city. There was a lot of emotion in it. The piece was well written and, even if we don’t get along, you are a good reporter,” then she added, “when you can actually be bothered to write.”

She just managed to catch the surprise on Carmilla’s face.

Carmilla paused, as if she didn’t know how to respond.

Laura waited, hopeful that she’d get something from Carmilla. Some insight or tidbit or sincerity or

“Eh, you would like that sort of sappy sentimental piece,” Carmilla said, shrugging.

Of course.

Before Laura could respond, her phone went off. Snatching the cell while giving Carmilla a disapproving look for not moving away, Laura’s attention was immediately gone as the caller started speaking. She leapt to her feet, already grabbing her coat before the call could finish. 

She was halfway out the door when Carmilla grabbed her arm.

“Where do you think you’re going?” Carmilla said.

Laura tried to shrug her off, surprised when Carmilla was able to keep her grip. She gave Carmilla a look and, surprisingly, Carmilla let go immediately. Hand jerking back. “Big warehouse fire,” Laura said, “good scoop but I think it’s big enough that Superwoman might make an appearance.”

Then she turned and kept rushing towards the elevator.

“She won’t show,” Carmilla said.

Laura shrugged, “I think she will.”

“She won’t,” Carmilla said.

Shaking her head, Laura turned around to stare her down, “Then come with me. Prove me wrong. You can do your mocking at my failure live and in person. Because I think she will show up. She’s not going to let people burn. She’s better than that.”

Without waiting, Laura continued on to the elevator. Just as she was pushing the down button, Carmilla appeared beside her. 

“You’re something else, cupcake.” she said, “You’re so sure?”

“I believe she’ll show up,” Laura said.

Carmilla just shook her head, smile on her lips, “i think you should have been the superhero, cupcake”.

It was Laura smiling when the title SUPERWOMAN STOPS FIRE was written across the top of the next day’s Daily Planet newspaper. Carmilla even let Laura get out 10 seconds of her victory dance before she rolled her eyes. Laura just grinned at her. If Carmilla was going to disappear right after they got to the fire then it wasn’t Laura’s fault that she got the byline.

**Author's Note:**

> Cupcakes, I still can't believe we're almost done. I can only say how amazed i remain by your support as I push through the sleep deprivation to finish this. All or your comments, kudos and [ tumblr flails ](http://ariabauer.tumblr.com/) mean the world. Just thank you
> 
> This is the twenty-eighth story of '30 Days of Cupcake' where I'll be posting a unique Carmilla fanfic every weekday for 30 days. Stay stupendous. Aria.


End file.
